Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c11: Chapter I. Introduction
Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c11
- Language
- English
Contents
- c11.s1 Section I. Foreword — 8 parts
- c11.s2 Section II. Local Autonomy and Imperial Unity — 6 parts
Chapter I. Introduction
Section I. Foreword
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The following pages deal with the political history of India from the time of Bimbisāra to that of the Guptas. For this period we are fortunately in possession of authentic historical materials in addition to literary tradition to which reference has already been made in the first part of the book. These materials are derived principally from the following sources: inscriptions, coins, accounts left by foreign observers and works of Indian authors of known date and authenticity.
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Inscriptions engraved on stone and copper undoubtedly form the most copious and important source. Hardly less important are the coins which constitute almost the sole evidence of the history of certain dynasties and republican communities of the second and first centuries B. C. Foreign accounts, especially the records of Greek diplomats and navigators and of Chinese annalists and pilgrims, are especially valuable in connection with the vexed question of Indian chronology. Works of Indian writers of known epochs, that illumine the darkness of our period, and afford interesting glimpses of political history, are extremely rare and comprise the *Mahābhāshya* (Great Commentary) of Patañjali, the *Kalpanāmaṇḍitikā* of Kumāralāta, the *Life of Vasubandhu* by Paramārtha and the *Harsha-charita* (Deeds of Harsha) by Bāṇabhaṭṭa.
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For the history of the period from Bimbisāra to Aśoka the writer of these pages cannot in some respects claim much originality. The subject has been treated by Rhys Davids and Smith, and a flood of new light has been thrown on particular dynasties by Geiger, Bhandarkar, Rapson, Jayaswal, Malalasekera, Jackson, Herzfeld, Hultzsch and others. Use has in some cases been made of the information contained in their works, and it has been supplemented with fresh data gathered mainly from epical, Jaina, Buddhist and classical sources. As instances it may be pointed out that attention to the name Haryaṅka, given to the Bimbisārid family by Aśvaghosha, was first drawn in these pages. The tradition recorded in the *Harsha-charita* and Jaina works regarding the tragic end of Śiśunāga’s line and origin of the Nandas has been collated with the evidence of the Graeco-Latin writers. Epic data have been used largely to illustrate the dawn of Magadhan ascendancy, locate tribes like the Kambojas and the Pulindas who figure in the Aśokan edicts, and to explain expressions like *stryadhyaksha*, *vihārayātrā*, ,*anusaṁyāna* etc. Old materials have also been presented in many cases in a new shape, and the author’s conclusions are often different from those of former writers.
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In the chapter on the Later Mauryas the author has examined the causes of the dismemberment of the Maurya Empire, and drawn pointed attention to the Gārgī Saṁhitā, the Hou Hanshu, etc. and has tried to demonstrate the unsoundness of the current theory that “the fall of the Maurya authority was due in large measure to a reaction promoted by the Brāhmans.¹
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¹ The Chapter on the Later Mauryas was published in the JASB, 1920 (No. 18, pp. 305 ff.).
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The treatment of the history of the Early Post-Mauryan and Scythian periods, though not entirely original, is different in many respects from that of previous authors. It has not been possible to accept the current views with regard to the lineage of Pushyamitra and the history and chronology of several dynasties, notably of the Early Śātavāhanas, the Greeks of Śākala, and the Saka-Pahlavas of the Uttarāpatha or North-West India. As early as 1923 the writer of these pages assigned to the Nāgas of the Jumna valley and Eastern Malwa and the Bhāraśivas their proper place in the history of the post-Kushan period, a fact which has been ignored in some wellknown publications.
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In the account of the Gupta period use has been made of the mass of fresh materials accumulated since the publication of the works of Bühler, Fleet, Smith and Allan. The notices of the most famous ruling family of the age in early epigraphs and literature, which are sometimes overlooked, have received due attention, its relations with southern dynasties like the Vākāṭakas have been discussed, and an attempt has been made to present a connected history of the so-called 'Later Guptas.'¹
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¹ The Chapter on the so-called Later Guptas was published in the *JASB.*, 1920 (No. 19, pp. 313 ff).
Section II. Local Autonomy and Imperial Unity
c11.s2.1
The chief interest of the political history of the post-Bimbisārian Age lies in the interplay of two opposing forces, one centrifugal, the other centripetal, *viz.*, the love of local (*Jānapada*) autonomy and the aspiration for imperial unity. The former ideal is best expressed in the words of Manu—*sarvaṁ paravaśaṁ duḥkham, sarvam ātmavaśaṁ sukham*,¹ "subjection to others is full of misery, subjection to self leads to happiness." The predilection for local self-rule was in part fostered by geographical conditions. The intersection of the land of India by deep rivers and winding chains of mountains flanked by dreary deserts or impenetrable forests, developed a spirit of isolation and cleft the country asunder into small political units whose divergences were accentuated by the infinite variety of local conditions. But the vast riparian plain of the north and the extensive plateau in the interior of the Deccan Peninsula, decked with green by the life-giving streams that flow from the majestic heights of the Himālayas and the Western Ghats, fostered an opposite tendency—an inclination towards union and coalescence. The sands which choked the Sarasvatī, the floods that swelled the Lauhitya, the dangers that lurked in the Mahāṭavī proved no effective bar to unity. The five hills of Girivraja could not permanently withstand the conquering heroes who were charged with an imperial mission. The head of the Vindhya bent in reverence before the sage who was bringing the culture of the Ganges valley to the banks of the Godāvarī and the Tāmraparṇī.
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¹ *Manusaṁhitā*, IV, 160.
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The desire for union under one political authority became manifest as early as the Brāhmaṇa period and found expression in passages like the following:—
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"May he (the king) be all-encompassing, possessed of all the earth, possessed of all life, from the one end up to the further side of the earth bounded by the ocean, sole ruler (*ekarāṭ*)."
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The ideal persists throughout our period and inspired poets and political philosophers who spoke of the thousand *yojanas* (leagues) of land that stretch from the Himālayas to the sea as the proper domain of a single universal emperor (*chakravarti-kshetra*) and eulogised monarchs who protected the earth decked with the Ganges, as with a pearl necklace, adorned with the Himavat and the Vindhya, as with two earrings, and robed with a swinging girdle in the shape of the rocking oceans.
c11.s2.6
The imperial ideal had to contend with the centrifugal tendencies of *Jānapada* (provincial and tribal) autonomy. The two forces operated in successive epochs almost with the regularity of the swing of the pendulum. The aspiration for a unity that transcended local boundaries owed its success not a little to the presence of another factor in Indian politics—the danger threatening from foreign invaders. It was only when the "earth was harassed by the barbarians" (*Mlechchhairudvejyamānā*) that she sought refuge in the strong arms of Chandra Gupta Maurya, the first great historical emperor of India—whose dominions undoubtedly overstepped the limits of *Āryāvarta*. Among the early empire-builders of the south was a prince who rid his country of the Scythians, Greeks and Parthians (*Saka-Yavana-Pahlava-nishūdana*). And the rulers who revived the imperial glory of the Gangetic Provinces in the fourth and fifth centuries A.D., were warriors who humbled the pride of the Scythian "Son of Heaven" and braved the wrath of the Saka king in his own city. According to sacred legends Vishṇu in the shape of a Boar had rescued the earth in the aeon of universal destruction. It is significant that the worship of the Boar Incarnation became widely popular in the Gupta-Chalukya period. The poet Viśākhadatta actually identifies the man in whose arms the earth found refuge when harassed by the *Mlechchhas*, who "shook the yoke of servitude from the neck" of his country, with the *Vārāhī-tanu* (Boar form) of the Self-Existent Being. Powerful emperors both in the north and the south recalled the feats of the Great Boar and the mightiest ruler of a dynasty that kept the Arabs at bay for centuries actually took the title of *Ādivarāha* or the Primeval Boar. The Boar Incarnation then symbolized the successful struggle of Indians against the devastating floods issuing from the regions outside their borders that threatened to overwhelm their country and civilisation in a common ruin.
Linked texts (3)
- Mānava Dharmaśāstra — Manu & Bhṛgu, Sanskrit
- Kalpanāmaṇḍitikā Dṛṣṭāntapaṅkti — Kumāralāta, Sanskrit
- Harṣacarita — Bāṇabhaṭṭa, Sanskrit